Sunday, November 30, 2008

JJ's broken arm

It has been a long time since the last post and who would have thought the next would be about this. The kids were at my sisters for the long weekend and were having a great time. They were climbing into the hay fort and J slipped and fell onto his arm about 4 feet. Tammy called me about 5:15pm and said we are trying to get him out of the hay loft and will bring him to the hospital, I grabbed my stuff and was on my way. Once I got to the hospital he was already in back and had his first round of xrays. The doctor came and said it was a bad break and couldn't get a clear film. They sent him back for more xrays. They actually needed on of his good arm, his right, so they could see what it is suppose to look like. Yup, that bad. When we got back from xray for the 2nd time the orthopedic suregeon was there. He asked several times if J injured his left arm before. I thought about it but thought, wouldn't I know. They asked so many times I called Jeff and he said the same thing. Wouldn't we know? So the orthopedic surgeon said the same thing, more xrays. This time they brought the machine to him. They did a lot of turning his hand and arm and moving and I almost passed out. He turned super white and looked just miserable. HE also was starving and couldn't eat or drink anything until they knew if he was going to have surgery.After the 3rd and 4th round of xrays the doctor came back and said we need to transfer him to CHildrens. He had such a severe break that he thought he could set it before going but that he would probably need another surgery. He said that JJ needed a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon and he was at Children's hospital. So they put a fiberglass cast on his arm wrapped it in a sling and gave him more meds to make the trip. They left his IV needle in so they wouldn't have to poke him again. The meds they gave him made him very sick to his stomach. I put my cold bottle next to his head and he said ooh that feels so good. So we waited what seemed like forever, my sister also never left his side. At about 9:15 we were on our way to Children's. I met Jeff right off a freeway exit and his sister, Kim took Jessica home with her to get some sleep.Poor Jess was also on an emotional roller coaster. She didnt' want to leave J. And she wouldn't eat anything because J couldn't. She felt too bad for him. I can only say things were in God's hands. From the moment I got into my car to make that what seemed forever drive. Thank you to all my friends that talked me through it and you know who you are......I drove 79 miles in about 45 minutes, and arrived safely. When the ER doctor said he should go to Children's and I said oh that is much closer than this hospital to the drive back to Seattle Childrens with a scared little girl and a very delicate little boy. He was such a trooper through it all. He wants to be so tough and didn't really want anything for the pain but when the doctor touched his arm and he winced I knew enough was enough.Children's hospital is great! We waited about 10 minutes and went right back to 3 doctors. One was Dr. Parada. He works with Dr. Mosca that will be doing J's surgery. All 3 doctors came in and said wow that is a very bad break. One of the worst. He may need more than 1 surgery. Dr. Parada didn't want to do the surgery tonight for 2 reason. 1. he wanted Dr. Mosca to do the surgery and 2. He wanted their team to do the surgery. We talked with J and he said he wanted the best 2. It turns out that J has a rare break. The doctor thinks that the reason the other doctor didn't get a good read on the xray because his one bone that broke is actually rotated 180 degrees. So they have a couple corrections to make during surgery. J really wanted to have the surgery and go home but he was almost as happy to have food. He could have as much as he wanted until 1:30AM and than nothing until after surgery. They are expecting, fingers crossed, to do surger around 10AM. They expect it will take about 90 minutes and if everything goes well he will be home in time for dinner. His arm is and has been wrapped in fiberglass since leaving St. Joeseph hospital in Bellingham. The fact that it is wrapped is helping eleviate the pain. They have him on an IV and a morphine drip to keep him comfortable until his surgery. They are concerned about his growth plate and if that will cause future problems and they are concerned about his blood flow. He doesn't appear to have any nerve damage and will have a cast for about 6 weeks.J very quickly realized 2 things, anything with the bathroom is going to be a chore and video games? not likely. At least not his favorite one.I am so thankful for everyone's thoughts and prayers and that he only has a broken arm. I am thankful for my sister and brother in law. Greg never left his side, including him somehow getting JJ down that hay loft. J still is talking about how great uncle Greg is. Cory,my nephew who didn't even think about what needed to be done and just did to make sure J was ok. To Jessica who was at J's side every moment until I could get there and held it together for J until I could get there. What a great big sister! I thank God for keeping me safe during all the driving and that J is in the best possible hands. I will keep you all updated.